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News Release Information

24-951-CHI
Friday, July 12, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Elkhart-Goshen — May 2023

Workers in the Elkhart-Goshen, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.27 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($60.09), healthcare practitioners and technical ($47.38), and architecture and engineering ($38.27). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.53), personal care and service ($16.97), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.64). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Elkhart area included production (34.7 percent), transportation and material moving (10.0 percent), and office and administrative support (9.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.2 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.4 percent); and personal care and service (0.6 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Elkhart metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesElkhartUnited StatesElkhart

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4826.27

Management

6.94.666.2360.09

Business and financial operations

6.63.443.5535.01

Computer and mathematical

3.41.054.3937.64

Architecture and engineering

1.71.447.6438.27

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.442.2433.92

Community and social service

1.60.728.3623.96

Legal

0.80.264.34(1)

Educational instruction and library

5.82.931.9223.96

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.636.3124.89

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.13.349.0747.38

Healthcare support

4.72.018.3718.46

Protective service

2.31.027.7424.70

Food preparation and serving related

8.75.516.5814.53

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.91.718.4317.64

Personal care and service

2.00.618.4816.97

Sales and related

8.86.825.6226.45

Office and administrative support

12.29.623.0522.82

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.119.2219.89

Construction and extraction

4.14.029.5726.33

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.95.528.1327.75

Production

5.834.722.9023.23

Transportation and material moving

9.110.022.4521.24

Footnotes:
(1) Estimate not released.

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Elkhart had 47,510 jobs in production, accounting for 34.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.23, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (19,530), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (3,310), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,700). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $32.90 and $29.22, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.99) and print binding and finishing workers ($16.30). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21140.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Elkhart area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, fiberglass laminators and fabricators were employed at 59.8 times the national rate in Elkhart, and furniture finishers, at 27.7 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.2 in Elkhart, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Elkhart-Goshen, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,341 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Elkhart-Goshen, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Elkhart County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Elkhart metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

47,5106.023.2348,320

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

3,3105.532.9068,440

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

4301.823.2948,450

Engine and other machine assemblers

501.122.2246,220

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

57010.925.3552,730

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

1,10059.823.5148,900

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

19,53014.623.5749,020

Bakers

1600.817.7836,970

Butchers and meat cutters

1000.818.3138,070

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

900.719.3740,300

Food batchmakers

1701.120.0041,590

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2704.820.7143,090

Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

29013.120.9043,470

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,3508.420.4142,460

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

4106.121.8245,390

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1106.423.5548,980

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

907.316.4434,200

Machinists

8803.422.3246,420

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

603.124.9751,930

Foundry mold and coremakers

403.522.3246,430

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,0007.017.2135,790

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2702.321.0843,850

Tool and die makers

2304.428.0758,380

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

2,3106.125.5553,150

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

42014.221.2944,290

Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

903.319.3840,310

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

904.830.9964,460

Printing press operators

1200.921.9545,650

Print binding and finishing workers

401.116.3033,910

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

700.413.9929,110

Sewing machine operators

7707.318.6738,830

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

404.718.1137,660

Upholsterers

35015.123.9349,780

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

604.517.7036,820

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

1,84023.121.5344,790

Furniture finishers

36027.726.9756,090

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

3609.319.3640,260

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

1,13020.421.3344,360

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

500.425.2152,450

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

2902.721.0043,680

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

903.720.4342,500

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

17015.218.3238,100

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

4504.723.2648,370

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

4309.022.0745,910

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

3206.118.8039,100

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

604.220.9143,480

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

2,7005.120.1241,860

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

4001.218.0937,620

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

14014.121.5044,720

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,65011.822.8147,440

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

5803.422.2046,170

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

803.329.2260,780

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

18015.817.4536,290

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

403.320.7343,110

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

1103.123.6349,150

Helpers--production workers

2801.719.9241,430

Production workers, all other

2100.919.4340,410

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Elkhart-Goshen, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21140.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.
(3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average.
(4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, July 12, 2024